FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT DREW BLEDSOE - PAGE 4

Patriots coach Bill Parcells wants to see more of rookie Drew Bledsoe before he names him the starting quarterback for the season opener. Bledsoe will start Friday at Foxboro Stadium against the Kansas City Chiefs in the Patriots' final exhibition game, which had the starting time moved to 8 p.m. But Parcells declined to say if he had made up his mind to start Bledsoe, 21, when the Patriots open the regular season Sept. 5 at Buffalo. "I reserve the right to change my mind," Parcells said.

Dave Meggett has almost single-handedly kept the Patriots in the playoff race the past two weeks. Sunday, Meggett provided the spark for a 20-17 victory over the Indianapolis Colts with a 47-yard punt return. Last week, Meggett threw a 35- yard touchdown pass on a halfback option to give the Patriots room for a 27-24 victory over Miami. "Meggett is one guy that when I am done playing and I look back at my career, I'll say I was proud to play with," quarterback Drew Bledsoe said.

Slowly, silently, he threaded his way through the Patriots dressing room, his black shaving kit and black loose-leaf playbook tucked under his left arm. He wore a red T-shirt and his usual faded denim jeans and jacket ensemble. He had on his white Converse sneakers, the old no-frills canvas ones with the skinny red stripe that people wore in prehistoric times, before the first aerobics class. To look at him, you'd have thought his signing bonus was $4, instead of $4 million. Drew Bledsoe was downcast, because although he is rich and famous and only 21, he is one of those old-fashioned athletes who worries a lot more about the scoreboard than the bank account.

NFL players filled out Pro Bowl ballots Monday. Chances are Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe didn't appear on many. It has been a less than terrific season for Bledsoe. The team hasn't been winning. He's been hurt. And his numbers have been down. It used to be that Patriots victories were measured by Bledsoe's performances. On Sunday, the Patriots beat the Jets 31-28 almost in spite of Bledsoe. "I'm concerned," coach Bill Parcells said. "I know we've got a lot of work to do with him."

The man dressed in black drove up and parked his motorized cart in front of the dining hall. As he climbed out and walked a few steps to a parched stretch of grass, three dozen or so media people bearing minicams, microphones and note pads surged forward and surrounded him. This is the media stampede that would likely greet Drew Bledsoe every day of his football life if the Patriots didn't make interviewing him off-limits except for Wednesdays and...

At about 11 a.m. Sunday, the second day of the NFL draft set to begin, Patriots player personnel director Scott Pioli told coach Bill Belichick what he had been wanting to hear: The Bills, intransigent Saturday, had offered their first-round pick next year for Drew Bledsoe. Belichick sat down with Patriots owner Robert Kraft and salary cap guru Andy Wasynczuk to make sure the deal they had been holding out for was still OK with them. It was. So for the Patriots, after nine years, the Drew Bledsoe era was over.

When the Patriots made Washington State quarterback Drew Bledsoe the first player chosen in the 1993 NFL draft, Greater Boston had four pro sports franchises but only three icons. The Bruins' Bobby Orr, hockey's greatest defenseman. The Celtics' Larry Bird, basketball's greatest forward. The Red Sox's Ted Williams, baseball's greatest hitter. The Patriots, the area's youngest pro franchise, had never had a marquee player worthy of such a pedestal. Even as he was being measured for his first Patriots uniform, the 20-year-old Bledsoe was being measured for something more enduring.

The football, spiraling fiercely from the hand of a young Brett Favre, sails over the outstretched hands of his older brother, Scott, and shatters the storage shed window. Irvin Favre stalks out of the house at 1213 Irvin Favre Rd. in Kiln, Miss. "That's it," he says, recovering the ball from the wreckage. He heaves it across the yard, into the swirling waters of Rotten Bayou. The Favre brothers shrug at each other. They know better than to go after the ball. The alligators in the river have already eaten three of their dogs.

Trying to beat the Packers was one matter. Trying to beat these damning stereotypes is quite another. You know what losing three times in four weeks does to a Super Bowl finalist? It turns coaches and stars into caricatures. Pete Carroll is a surfer dude who would much rather hang 10 than hang a 10-point defeat on the Super Bowl champions. Not tough enough. Not mean enough. Not a leader of men. Not an inspiration. And worst of all, not Bill Parcells. Carroll doesn't kick rear ends.

At one level, they are playing a game of chicken, the Patriots and these suitors for Drew Bledsoe. One party wants to get as much as it can for a gifted, loyal and, sadly, extraneous asset. The other wants to give as little as possible for a quarterback who might make all the difference for a NFL market. So they push each other. They dare each other. They bump and race toward the cliff of NFL draft day, seeing who will blink first and buckle to the other's demands. At a second level, they are playing the Old West game of horse trader.